Sleep Well
by Mathais
Summary: The Promised Day with Akihiko. Akihiko/Minato, Spoilers. Fill for the Persona kink meme.


Story Title: Sleep Well

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Persona 3

Warnings: Boys Love, Spoilers

Pairings: Akihiko/Minato

Summary: The Promised Day with Akihiko.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and elements of Persona 3; they belong to Atlus, I believe.

Notes: Done for the Persona kink meme prompt located here: shirakawablvd. livejournal 1014. html?thread=929270#t929270. The prompt is located at the end of the story.

**OoOoO**

You are almost surprised that you wake up. You are still so tired. For a moment, you just lie in bed, surrounded by warmth and peace. Everything you felt over the past few days suffuses into you.

You are tired, so tired that you are almost numb, and so numb that even the peace and warmth feel distant to you, like a hazy dream.

But you turn your head over to the side and look at your calendar. There, circled repeatedly in bright red, is today's date. March 5th.

Your promised day.

You can't believe you made it.

Yet you are still so tired.

A knock on your door finally rouses you from your bed. With tousled hair, you shuffle to the door in your pajamas, rubbing sleep from your eyes. When you open your door, Akihiko stands there, smiling gloriously.

"I remember," he breathes out simply and draws you into a kiss. Heat spreads through you from the point of contact. Though you shared many kisses, even in the time between the Fall and now, this particular kiss sears through you and reawakens what before felt distant. The sparks light the cinders in your heart and ignites into a blaze which burns through your veins.

You pull back from Akihiko, surprise on your face. For the first time in days, the ever-present exhaustion is pushed back, leaving your mind sharp. Without a single care, you lace your fingers with his. Akihiko's hand tightens around your own. "I thought... at the end, I _thought_," Akihiko whispers, and he pulls you into another kiss. He is warm and real against your mouth, and his muscled arm is a comfortably solid weight around you.

You aren't going to lie. A significant part of you wants to drag him into your room, lock the door, and throw him into your bed to have your wicked way with him. But you have a promise, a promise which has carried you through the past month, and you intend to keep it.

Regretfully, you step back from Akihiko, though he retains one possessive arm around your waist, drawing circles into the small of your back. You indicate quietly that you need to change. As a tease, you offer to let Akihiko stay and watch, but instead of the blush and stutter you expect, Akihiko fixes his eyes on you.

"I'll stay," he says. His gaze is intense, and it is that focus which served him so well in the ring and in the battlefield which, more than anything else, makes reality slide back into place for you. With Akihiko as an anchor, you only now realize how hazy everything was before. "You left me behind once. I won't let you do it again."

Your heart hurts at his words.

You carefully change into your school uniform, though you have trouble knotting your tie. Akihiko chuckles warmly as he steps in, calloused fingers deftly slipping the knot tight against your throat. He steps back only after a third kiss, the tingle of which lingers against your mouth as do Akihiko's fingers on your tie.

"Let's go to the roof together," Akihiko suggests with a bright smile. He's bouncier than he's ever been, and it brings a bittersweet smile to your face. You query about whether he can actually do that, considering he's graduating and all, but Akihiko waves off your protests with a grin.

"This is far more important than that! I can always pick up my diploma later. C'mon, let's enjoy our time together!"

You lace you fingers with him again. The two of you do not say anything as you make your way toward school, but you don't need words to communicate. You snuggle against his side on the train over, and, though his presence gives you strength, you feel yourself nodding off against him. His gaze is affectionate, and his gloved hand runs through your hair. It is a pleasant bit of normalcy.

It lets you drift and float and savor the moment.

The two of you never really were that open with your relationship. You managed to find your time between school and Tartarus to hang out under the veneer of friendship, until you were safely locked in your rooms and truly interacted. Now, however, you do not care. You do not care that teenagers who are already out of school are giggling at the two of you. You do not care that, where before you would be discreet, now you are open.

The only thing that matters is Akihiko's warmth next to you. The gentle rumble of his body against yours is one of the pleasures you indulge yourself in whenever possible. It reminds you of the gentle nights spent in his bed, wrapped in his arms, with the sound of his breaths lulling you to sleep.

Completely aware of what you're doing, you press a kiss into Akihiko's neck. With the Universe running through you, you find yourself caring less about social norms, and the flush which crawls up Akihiko's body is adorable.

"Stop that," Akihiko hisses quietly, but you enjoy the blush which streaks clear across his nose.

You relent, if only because of the tittering of the girls across from you. But you still lean your head on his strong shoulder. You are surprised when Akihiko wraps his arm around you, drawing you in close. When you take a peek up, he isn't looking at you, but the bright red on his face is enough.

You stay like that for the rest of the ride, floating in your own world and yet anchored by Akihiko. You try and save your strength, but it takes everything you have to stand and walk to school. Your half-leaning on Akihiko isn't just to display your affection at this point.

You're not sure if you can move otherwise.

Akihiko doesn't seem to mind when you don't protest his arm around your waist as you enter the gates of Gekkoukan High. He does shoot you a small, concerned look, however, especially as you have to lean on him to make it up the stairs.

"Lean on me," he says. "I'll be your strength. I'll protect you, so don't worry."

Almost desperately, you latch onto those words. You etch them into your heart and wrap them around your soul so they can patch you just a little longer until you reach the door to the roof. Sunlight bursts around you as you step out into the fresh air once more, and Akihiko manages to get you to one of the stone benches.

Everything around you is so warm. You feel as if you are going to drift off at any moment. It's becoming harder to focus, and it is only because of Akihiko's light touch on your head that you realize you're in his lap, head against his strong thigh.

It's taking a fair amount of strength to simply look up at him.

Gray eyes stare softly down at you. Akihiko is talking to you as you lay there, but it feels as if his words are coming through syrup. You focus your attention on him, and he's repeating the same things over and over.

"I'll protect you."

"I'll be there for you."

"From here on out, we'll be together forever."

Akihiko sounds so _happy_.

You can feel the tears well up in your eyes. You haven't cried in years. Even the day after your win, when it was clear that no one remembered the bonds they shared with each other, when you felt more alone than even when you stood on that precipice against humanity's will to die, you did not cry.

But you're crying now. Tears blur your vision of your precious person, and then Akihiko's wiping them away.

"What's the matter?" he asks softly. "We've won, haven't we?"

You're not sure what you want to say. This is exactly what you've fought for, the very thing which let you beat back Nyx and place yourself between her and Erebus. The care you feel for your friends, the bonds you've created, and the love rooted in your heart for Akihiko—all of it brought you here to this day, in this world you've all protected.

You won, and you were given time to reach this day.

It's just...

You're not going to go much farther.

With all you have, you reach up and grab Akihiko's tie. Gravity does the rest of the work, and you pull him down into a kiss.

You pour whatever you have left into it. All of the pain of the last month, all of the sadness, all of you regrets. Alongside that, however, is also the endless love you have for the world and everything in it. The joy and happiness which Akihiko brought you, you now give it back to him tenfold. You say with your lips what you cannot with your words, and Akihiko wraps his arms around you in response.

It's been a wonderful year with everyone.

You've made so many happy memories, more than enough to make up for those previous.

And, now, being held in Akihiko's arms, with the sound of your friends' cheers and approaching footsteps in your ears...

You cannot ask for more.

When Akihiko draws back, his tears mingling with yours, you try to focus on him, but all you can see is the impossibly blue sky.

You are so tired...

When you finally close your eyes, you hear...

"I love you."

...and you whisper the same...

...as the world turns white...

...

**OoOoO**

Prompt:

Akihiko/Minato, Spoiler

Anything with this pairing that fits the lines

_Wake me up before I die, hold me close_

_As I gaze upon the sky, comatose_

from the song Comatose by Ayreon.


End file.
